ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Taxpayer First Act Helps Whistleblowers
New Privacy Safeguards, Quicker Response Time, and Protections Against Retaliation
Substantial Rewards for Whistleblowers
Tips from whistleblowers are an important tool for helping the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) focus resources on examinations that are most likely to result in big returns. In fiscal year 2018 the office collected about $1.4 billion through its whistleblower program, according to a recent report by the IRS. Whistleblowers may have original information regarding various types of tax avoidance schemes including offshore tax avoidance, abusive tax shelters, accounting fraud, and other questionable tax avoidance strategies. If the IRS uses information provided by a whistleblower, it can award up to 30% of the additional taxes, penalties and other amounts it collects. If you have information regarding tax fraud, including offshore tax avoidance schemes tax accounting fraud, and violations of foreign bank account reporting requirements, the California and San Francisco whistleblower/qui tam attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. know how to present your evidence to the IRS with the best chance for you to receive an eventual reward. Call the whistleblower/qui tam attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. (415)441-8669, and we can help.
A recently adopted measure enhances the IRS Whistleblower Program and helps whistleblowers who bring forth evidence of taxpayer fraud. The Taxpayer First Act (TFA), signed into law on July 1, improves whistleblower privacy safeguards, provides for quicker and more open communication between the IRS and whistleblowers, and extends anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers who come forward with information regarding tax fraud.
Faster communication with whistleblowers is an important improvement to the whistleblower program. Formerly, whistleblowers might wait years before they received any communications from the IRS regarding their allegations. While IRS whistleblower cases will still take a long time from start to finish, the new law requires the IRS Whistleblower office to provide early updates to a whistleblower or the whistleblower’s attorney:
- Within 60 days after a case for which the whistleblower has provided information has been referred for an audit or examination, the IRS will inform the whistleblower of that referral.
- Within 60 days of a taxpayer making a payment of tax due to the whistleblower’s disclosure, the IRS will provide notice of such payment to the whistleblower.
The TFA also extends protection against employer retaliation for individuals who report tax fraud by creating a private right of action for tax whistleblowers who suffer retaliation. It prohibits any “employer, officer, employee, contractor, subcontractor, or agent” of an employer from retaliating against a whistleblower.
Our lawyers know how to advance your IRS whistleblower case through application, investigation, and administrative and/or judicial review with the goal of obtaining an award for your information. Our attorneys can also represent you against employers who retaliate against you for blowing the whistle on fraud.
Contact Us
If you have information regarding offshore tax avoidance schemes, violations of foreign bank account reporting requirements, abusive tax shelters, or other tax fraud contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other IRS whistleblower and tax fraud attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our whistleblower attorneys also handle cases involving bank fraud under FIRREA/FIAFEA, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program, the Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Program, False Claims Act cases, the FINRA Whistleblower Office and the California False Claims Act. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We also handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
